Without James Bond, he'd be nothing and would only have stink-fests to his name (other than the first Zorro).
I agree, except my opinion of Campbell's Zorro is lower than yours'. He makes quite a buffoon out of Don Diego and his alter ego in the first half. It's a form of ridicule that Campbell would later apply to another iconic character, James Bond. After Don Diego learns his lessons and finally becomes the iconic Zorro, it is hard to enjoy him, he's been such a dork.
I hate Campbell's bathroom humor scenes, his idiot becomes smart stories, and his vertical action scenes. The choreography never changes and the characters are all the same.
Campbell has been feeding off Bond and we all know that Bonds have been considerably successful in each of the five decades.
It's rather precious of him to take a cheap dig at a movie he was too gutless to helm knowing that he wouldn't have a Fleming Original and Love Story to work with, especially in light of the garbage upon garbage he offered up on the decade...not to mention directing the only Fairey Bond/Tinkerbell Bond moment in franchise history when he made Pierce look like a frail, pouty, Fairey boy as he fluttered and flew around in GoldenEye pre-titles.
Tell me, how did Campbell get away with
GoldenEye's pre-title scene? Bond jumps over a dam and enters into a small utility building. Inside it grows into a megaplex. Outside, the sluice below the dam is gone and now it's a runway leading to a cliffside. Not only does the exterior of the building not match the interior, but the exterior landscape changes from one place to another. Cheats like this only call attention to themselves and break the fourth wall.
I wish Campbell had never touched Zorro or Bond. More to the point, I wish the producers would surrender control to someone else, someone who knows how to tell stories. Michael G. Wilson is a no talent hack who's been screwing up good scripts since the 1970s to keep his name active in the WGA so that he can gobble up the high pay. But he is hardly noticeable compared to Barbara Broccoli. She is a whacko whose creative controls are largely responsible for taking all the fun out of the movies. Between the two producers and plodding mediocrities like Campbell, the Bond films will never find their way back to what they once were.
Before anyone says, "Oh, but the last Bond film made millions and millions!" understand the amount of money a Bond movie makes proves nothing. These films are events, like the Superbowl. Everybody turns out to see the event and hopes for the best regardless of how it will turn out. By the time they find out, the money has been paid.
Richard
Edited by Richard, 02 February 2010 - 10:02 AM.